In making the annual contract with the baker, his perquisite was the thirteenth loaf of every dozen furnished—hence the baker’s dozen.23 He was expected to know how to make “all kinds of preserved fruit, both liquid and dry, stewed fruits, creams, sweet cakes, marzipans, syrups, flavored waters, and distilled liqueurs.”

If you are a city official who is considering spending taxpayer money on some sort of perquisite, perhaps you should consider how you will explain said perk in the pages of local newspapers or before the cameras of local TV outlets.